By Assistant Editor Lindsay Sauvageau

Some nights, after a long day at the office I like to come home and relax with a little bit of me-time.

I put on a comfy pair of pants, pour a glass of ice cold soda (diet of course), dim the lights and save the world from hordes of virus-spreading zombies and mutated beasts and ghouls. 

- Or sometimes I don the persona of a mustached hero-plumber so that I can trek through worlds of toad-people, waddling mushroom henchmen and hammer throwing turtles to save my favorite princess.

- Sometimes I am an assassin, trying to defend Fifteenth Century Italy from the power-hungry Knights Templar.

- Sometimes I’m a guitar hero, performing classic rock anthems for my millions of fans.

- Sometimes I’m a Olympian, pushing for the Gold in swimming, archery, gymnastics, rowing, etc. … (I’m multi-talented.)

- Sometimes I’m a superhero, battling bad guys (pow, bam, ker-splat!) in the name of truth and justice!

You know what I’m trying to say, right?

I, am a gamer.

I, like so many Americans, enjoy spending my free time playing video games. I have ever since I was a kid.

Video games have been a part of my family as long as I can remember. My dad, when my sisters and I were young, would take us to the local video arcade (situated beside what was then, Whalom Park) and we would play Tekken and pinball, Centipede, Pac-Man, Ninja Turtles and Q*Bert. Later, when my family bought our first game system, a Nintendo, my mother and I would play Ninja Kid, Simon’s Quest and Dig Dug together.

My brother and I (ten years apart in age) have always overcome that age gap through video games. I introduced him to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater and he introduced me to Guitar Hero.

When my family had disagreements, they were settled by Mario Kart tournaments in the living room, or a Galaga, winner-takes-all face-off.

When the world started wondering if video games were getting too violent, I was wondering what else could have brought my family closer?

Video games, like so much technology in this world, are only as dangerous, helpful or entertaining as the people playing them. An obsessive person might become obsessed, a violent person might be incited to violence.

A shy person might dress up like Jimi Hendrix and play a imitation guitar controller like it's nobody's business! … I’m not saying that I do that, I’m just saying that, you know, it could happen.

In the end, it’s not the nature of the game, but the nature of the person playing the game.

I for one, am not ashamed to call myself a Game Stop Edge card-carrying gamer. Because one of the best things about being a gamer is that you’re not alone (and I don’t mean in the, there’s-a-zombie-around-the-corner sort of way.) Video games have created a billion-dollar industry that keeps growing every year.

Consoles like the Nintendo Wii were designed with the whole family in mind, using wireless remote technology that allows players to experience games as they never have before. When you hit a homerun, you swing your bat, when you throw a shot-put you aim and heave, when you box in the ring, you duck, move and jab.

Because of the physical benefits of exercising the hand-eye coordination necessary to play many Wii games, senior centers and assisted living centers all over the country are purchasing these systems and generations of men and women who were born way before Atari and even Pong, are getting in on the action.

People play games on their computers, on their cell phones, even their TVs - everyone is playing something, somewhere, somehow.

And before you say you don’t play ANY type of techno-game, I still say you’re a gamer. We’ve got our role players, our board gamers and our card gamers. We have our Crossword puzzlers and Suduko masters, people who play sports, people who like to play trivia games, word games, long-distance car-ride games and mind games…but be wary of the, um, mind game people, I’m not really sure about them.

In the end we ALL enjoy playing games, because we enjoy having fun, friendly competition, connecting with people, using our minds and our imaginations, and math (but I don’t know about those math people.)

If you think about all the games we play, and how many types of games exist out there, then there is always going to be someone - many someones -  every second, of every day, playing.

Experiencing a little bit of joy.

I don’t think that’s a bad thing, do you? While one person sits at home playing Resident Evil, a group of people across the world are playing Risk; while a woman sipping coffee in Lunenburg is working on a Crossword puzzle, a group of college students at UCLA are having a ball playing Madden '10; while a little girl in Australia is connecting the dots, and a group of children in Austin, Texas are trying not to wake daddy, a teen in Ontario is playing with his Hacky Sack (even though I’ve never understood those people either) and a group of girls in London are playing rugby; somewhere else there is a couple playing Chinese Checkers and another couple are sitting in front of their TV yelling out answers -in the form of a question - to Alex Trebek; and elsewhere, men and woman across the globe are talking, via headsets, coordinating tactical maneuvers in the same game of Modern Warfare.

My suggestion this week is to give yourself that bit of joy that comes with playing, pure and simple. It doesn’t matter what you play - Mario Party, Word Whomp, Ice Hockey, Wolfenstein, Battleship, Kick-the-Can (if people even still play that, ‘cause I know if people are still playing with Hacky Sacks anything is possible), Dungeons and Dragons, Dance Dance Revolution, Jenga, Chutes and Ladders or Texas Hold ’Em - just as long as you play, and that it makes you smile.